A little over a year ago, I felt like my shift at the temple was one disaster after another. I began to question why I’d even bothered to come that day. Everything seemed to be going wrong.
Disaster on My Dress
One of the first things on my schedule that day was my lunch break. I never like having my lunch break too early in my schedule. Because they have to spread out the breaks, some people, though, have to have the early lunch.
That day, I heated up my food, and as I was pulling it out of the microwave, the container slipped out of my hands. The gravy from my Christmas 2022 dinner landed on my dress. At home, that would have been an inconvenience. I’d just try to wipe the food off of myself, and if it was too bad, I’d change my clothes. Even under normal circumstances, I could have attempted to wipe off the food as well as I could, and then I’d just hope that no one noticed the mess on my clothes. In a white dress, though, any spill is a disaster.
While I was annoyed, I wasn’t super worried at first. After all, the Idaho Falls Temple laundry facilities have this spray that supposedly gets out any stains. Guess what! It didn’t work.
One of the laundry workers said she’d get me a rental dress, and I could leave mine. She assured me that she’d spray it, wash it, and get the stain out. Then I could pick up my dress at the end of my shift. I reluctantly agreed to her plan, mostly because I had no other option. Without any lunch, I switched dresses and headed off to my next assignment.
The Lost Earring
About an hour and a half later, I realized I was only wearing one earring. I knew I’d put on two that morning, so in my head, I tried to think through when I could have lost it. As discretely as possible, I took out the earring that I was still wearing and slipped it in my pocket.
I was convinced that several people had probably seen me and wondered why I was only wearing one earring. No one had said anything to me, though.
The Contact Lens Mishap
About two hours later, I was getting closer to the end of my shift when my right eye started bothering me. I rubbed it, and out popped my contact lens. This in itself would not have been another temple disaster. Unfortuantely, the contact lens was ripped in half, meaning it was no longer usable. Honestly, at that point, I had to laugh a little and wonder what could go wrong next.
I spent the final portion of my temple shift unable to properly see out of my right eye. It was a strange feeling. I didn’t want to close that eye and look like I was winking at people throughout the rest of my shift, but being able to see out of one eye and unable to see out of the other made things look really weird.
Each Disaster Was Resolved
I spent my whole shift concerned about my dress. Would they be able to get the stain out? How badly would it show if they were unable to get it out? Would I still even be able to wear the dress? Luckily, when I went to pick up my dress, the stain was completly gone. Even knowing where I had spilt gravy on myself, I couldn’t see any traces of the stain.
When I went back to change at the end of the day, my earring was on the floor just outside my locker. I think in my rush to change from my temple dress to the rental, I must have jerked my dress off, throwing on the other dress, not noticing that I’d pulled my earring out in the process.
My contact lens disaster was not resolved as cleanly as the others. I ended up driving home only able to properly see out of the one eye. I think that’s legal, or at least semi-legal. There are people who can only see out of one eye, and they drive. It must be fine.
I got home safely, and I did have another pair of contact lenses to change into. It was probably about time to replace them anyway.
An Odd Coincidence of Mishaps?
On their own, each of these mishaps wouldn’t have felt like a big deal. Together, though, they were a crazy series of disasters. I’m generally super careful when it comes to eating at the temple, so I’ve never spilt food on myself at the temple (although this definitely wasn’t my first time spilling food on myself in general). While I’ve pulled an earring out before while changing clothes, I’ve always felt it getting pulled out, and most of the time, it’s stuck to my clothes.
I’ve worn contacts since I was in 9th grade. It’s been pretty much a daily thing for over two decades. I’ve had contacts rip a little bit as they get older. I’ve had days where my contacts just don’t feel quite right. Yet, this was the first time I’ve had a contact rip right in half. Having all three things happen in one day didn’t feel like a conincidence.
From Disaster to Lessons
As I was dealing with my dress, earring, and contact lens problems, I felt a bit annoyed. I was at the temple. I was where I was supposed to be, doing what I should be doing. Yet, all these mini disasters happened. Yes, I realize it wasn’t the end of the world, and within a short time, I was able to laugh at the situation a bit. Yet, at the time, it did feel like everything was going wrong. I wanted to scream, “WHY? I’M DOING WHAT I SHOULD BE DOING. I’M WHERE I SHOULD BE. WHY ARE YOU PUNISHING ME?”
This series of disasters was a reminder to me that even when we’re doing what we should be doing, we are not exempt from trials and problems. You can find many general conference talks on this or similar topics. You can look to the lives of apostles, prophets, and other general authorities for proof of this. They’ve had health problems, had spouses die unexpectedly, had children die young, and faced other difficult trials. Obedience does not exempt us from trials and misfortunes.
Another lesson is that often what feels horrible in the moment is a minor trial in the longrun. My dress was fine. I found my earring. I was able to get a different contact lens. Within a few minutes of getting home from the temple, physically it was as though none of the temple mishaps had even happened.
Looking back a little over a year later, I have to laugh a bit at the situation. It was definitely one of the hardest days at the temple. Yet, it could have been a lot worse.
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